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Crowdsourcing TolstoyThe New YorkerWhat can you do with your Russian degree? Participate in a collective proofread of Tolstoy's collected works, that's what!

﻿﻿﻿World Languages Fair

Friday, August 30, 2013Smail Gallery

Macalester’s first-ever World Languages Fair took place on Friday, August 30, 2013 in the Smail Gallery at Olin Rice. At the Russian Table, Professors Jim von Geldern and Anastasia Kayiatos, our new Lab Instructor Katia Efimenko, and Ruxi Zhang ‘14 chatted with students and parents about the Russian program and the joys of learning Russian language and culture, handed out cards with mini-Russian lessons and treated students to Russian candy and delectable pastries baked by Katia.

Students who showed extra initiative by collecting words in different languages for their World Language Resumes received a stamp with the word “Молодец!” (a term of praise for a job well done). Besides the tasty treats, our table featured Russian books, magazines, postcards, menus, and posters; artwork and material culture including matryoshki, musical instruments, toys, amber, vinyl records and a vintage Soviet dress courtesy of Professor Kayiatos.

On Tuesday, September 24, Russian Studies teamed up with the departments of History and Political Science to convene a lunchtime panel discussion on the interrelationship among Russia, Syria, and the United States, particularly in response to current events, as the U.S. had recently accepted Russia’s offer to work with the Syrian government to destroy the Assad regime’s chemical weapons, thus narrowly avoiding a military strike that had been dreaded by many all over the world. Carnegie 206 was packed as students and faculty came to hear different perspectives on the crisis in Syria and ideas about what the future may hold for this troubled region. After Julia Chadaga from Russian Studies provided some opening remarks, the audience heard from Alexey Khlebnikov, International Fellow at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota; Peter Weisensel from History; Wendy Weber from Political Science; Wessam El-Meligi from Classics; and Jim von Geldern from International Studies and Russian Studies. We were able to field a few questions from the audience and wished that we could have had much more time for discussion, but we were happy to build on the conversation begun in the previous week with the presentation by Syrian first-year student Farah Al-Haddad and to discuss the crisis in Syria within an international framework, giving the audience a more complex account of the situation than they would get from the mainstream media.

U.S. and Russia Reach Deal to Destroy Syria’s Chemical ArmsNew York Times As the U.S. and Russia embark on a plan to seize and ultimately destroy Syria's chemical arsenal, critics of the initiative doubt the feasibility of completing several years' worth of work in a matter of months, while others object to the fact that the process of disarmament has fallen under the control of Russia, a steadfast supporter of the Assad regime and one of Syria's major weapons suppliers.

A Plea for Caution From RussiaNew York Times An Op-Ed piece in the New York Times by Vladimir Putin, in which the Russian president lays out his recommendation about how the US and the world community should handle the Syria crisis. The piece concludes with a critique of President Obama's claim about American exceptionalism in his speech on Tuesday; as Putin writes, "it is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation." In light of Russia's own history of framing itself as unique, exceptional country, an even messianic country, this rhetoric is interesting, to say the least.

Obama Backs Idea for Syria to Cede Control of ArmsNew York Times Putin's proposal that Syria cede control of its chemical weapons in order to avoid a military strike has generated tentative hope among top U.S. officials but also debates about Putin's true motives as he dons the mantle of peacemaker. A number of reader comments to this story raise the perennial question: can we ever really trust the Russians?

Russian police seize painting of Vladimir Putin in women’s underwearThe Star In another troubling sign of increasing government intervention in the arts, Russian police recently confiscated paintings on display in St. Petersburg that depict Vladimir Putin and his second-in-command, Dmitry Medvedev, scantily clad and intimately posed together. This story also raised questions about why gender norms have become such a deeply politicized issue in contemporary Russia.

Obama cancels meeting with Putin over Snowlen asylum tensionsThe Guardian Barack Obama has canceled a bilateral summit meeting with Vladimir Putin, a dramatic gesture by a U.S. head of state the likes of which has not been seen for decades, in response to Russia's granting a one-year asylum to NSA leaker Edward Snowden as well as to conflicts over other issues, from Syria to human rights, on which the two leaders cannot see eye to eye.

Kremlin critic goes from jail to trailNew York Times Three weeks after being convicted of embezzlement on what many say are trumped-up charged, Alexei Navalny, Russia's leading opposition figure, uses a brief window of freedom to run for mayor of Moscow. His campaign slogan, "Change Russia. Start with Moscow," is one more challenge to Vladimir Putin's apparently iron grip over Russia's political system.

Pussy Riot VideoNew York Times The women of punk collective Pussy Riot rage against the machine--literally. The lyrics of their new song call Russia's oil industry a 'red prison.' In the video, the women clamber atop drilling equipment to unfurl a banner and shout their words of dissent.

Navalny ConvictedNew York Times Russian blogger and lawyer Aleksei Navalny, a charismatic and influential leader of the political opposition to President Vladimir Putin, has just been sentenced to five years in prison on what many say are fabricated charges.

Syria TalksNew York Times Kerry Says U.S. and Russia were still working toward holding an international peace conference on Syria and agreed that it should take place “sooner rather than later.”

Edward Snowden in MoscowThe Guardian Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed that fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden is hiding out in Moscow's biggest airport, and has characterized U.S. accusations against Russia as "ravings and nonsense."

Museum to Take Out-of-TownersStar Tribune "The Museum of Russian Art has just been selected by the Star Tribune as the best “Museum to Take Out-of-Towners”. Find out about current exhibitions at the museum, including photographs that show Jewish life in the Russian empire and paintings that explore women's experience during the Soviet period.

From Russia to SpaceNew York Times Did you know that NASA now requires all its astronauts to learn Russian? In a small town in Russian, Baikonur, astronauts are launched into the sky.